Lock for bag-frames and the like.



F. J. LAU.

LOOK FOR BAG FRAMES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION IILED JUNE 15, 1911.

1,005,850, I Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

WITNESSES:

COLUMBIA PMNDURAPH C0,,WASMIN01'ON. D. C.

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FREDRICK J. LAU', OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

LOOK FOR BAG-FRAMES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

Application filed June 15, 1911. Serial No. 633,340.

To all whom it may concern:

- erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a lock that is adapted for use under differentconditions, but is particularly designed to be used as a lock forbag-frames and the like, and particularly for the type of bag known asthe English traveling bag.

The lock consists of a casing in which there is a sliding latch whichhasmeans to receive and engage the hasp of the lock, the sliding memberbeing locked against any sliding movement by a latch-plate, and betweenthe latch-plate and the latch is a spring bearing on both and having thedouble function of holding the latch in its normal position and forcingthe latclrplate in engagement with a locking-plate, which locking-plateis held by the latch-plate in its locked or unlocked position, beingoperated by a key which passes in the usual way down through theloclccasing and engages the locking-plate to slide it. Thelockingplatehas a stem thereon which acts as a guide for the key and also as abearing therefor.

Another object of the invention is to provide the locking-plate and thelatch-plate with co-acting means to positively and securely lock them intheir relative positions, but at the same time permit their easymovement by means of the key when it is desired to change their relativepositions.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a part of the bag-frame with the lockand the hasp slightly separated. Fig. 2 is a back view of the lock. Fig.3 is a similar view showing the latchplate slid down to the positionwhere it releases the hasp. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the latch.Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the locking-plate, and Fig. 7 7

6 is a perspective view of the latch-plate.

The invention consists of a casing 10 which is inserted down through thetop horizontal part 11 of one of the swinging members of the bag-frame,the casing 10 having an open side which is closed, when the lock is inplace, by the vertical part 12 of the bag-frame, the casing having anescutcheon plate 13 projecting beyond the vertical sides of the casing10 and either attached thereto or integral therewith, this escutcheonplate being adapted to be fitted against the horizontal plate 11 of thebag-frame and form a finish for the lock and the bagframe. The bag-frameis provided on its side edges with fingers 14 which act as guides andretaining means for the studs 15 which fit within the side walls 16 ofthe casing and bear thereon and are at tached to or a part of the latch17 which extends across the casing from one side to the other having thenoses 18, which noses are adapted to be normally in position across theopenings 19 in the front of the casing, and being rounded to permittheir being depressed when they are engaged by the ends of the haspsQO'which have perforations 21, which perforations 21 go over the noses18 and lock the bag-frame members 22 and 11 together. The latch 17 has abridge'23 which engages the top edge of the casing 10 when the latch isin its normal position, and thereby limits the movement of the latch.The bridge 23 is provided with slots 2 1 which receive the tongues 25 ofa ferrule 26, which ferrule acts both as a finger-piece, as shown inFig. 3, when it is desired to uncatch the lock, and ,is provided with akeyhole slot 27 whereby it is adapted to act as a key-casing, the key 28being inserted through the key-hole slot 27, and the key being recessedon the inside is further guided by the post 29, which post extends fromthe latch up through a key-hole slot 30 in the bridge and therefore actstoguide the key until its end engages the portion 81 of the latch. InFig. 2 the bottom part of the key is shown dotted so as not to confusethe drawing.

The latch is normally free to slide and is held up by a spring 32, whichis preferably a flat leaf spring, bearing on the under side of the latchand also bearing on a latchplate 33 which has a perforation 34 fittingover a stud 35, thereby being held against any sliding movement, butbeing adapted to have a vertical movement, the spring thereby tending tonormally force the latch up and the latch-plate down. The latclrplat'eon each end is provided with a double set of V-shaped projections 36,which V-shaped projections are adapted to fit over inverted V-shapedprojections 37 of the locking-plate 38, the locking-plate 38 beingadapted to slide on the bottom of the casing, having a slot 39 whichfits over the stud The locking-plate 38 slides longitudinally of thecasing, that is at right angles to the sliding motion of the latch, andhas a vertical plate 40 attached thereto, being preferably made integraltherewith and stamped up from sheet metal, the vertical plate having aslot 41 which is engaged by the tongue of a key whereby the lockingplateis slid to its locked or unlocked position.

WVhen the locking-plate is moved by the key to the position shown inFig. 2, the nose 42 engages the bottom of the latch adjacent to one sideof the bridge, and the nose 43 engages the bottom edge of the latch,these two noses thus effectually locking the latch against any movement,and when the hasps 20 are over the noses 18 the members of the bag-framecan not be separated and the bag is locked. When the locking-plate 38 isslid to its other limit of movement, that is in the position opposite tothat shown in Fig. 2, the nose 42 is underneath the portion 31 of thebridge which is slightly narrower than the main portion of the latch 17,and the nose 43 is then underneath the recess 44; which is cut in thelatch so that the latch can he slid down, not coming in contact with thenoses 42 and 43, against the pressure of the spring 32 and the noses 18are thus drawn down beyond the openings 19 and the hasps can bewithdrawn from the lock and the bag thus opened.

To positively lock the lockingplate in its locked and unlockedpositions, the V-shaped and the inverted V-shaped projections on thelatch-plate and the locking-plate, respectively, engage each other, asshown in Figs. 2 and 3, to prevent any sliding of the locking-plate byjarring the bag or any other accidental method, but at the same timeprovide an easy bearing for the locking-plate when it is slid by thekey, the inclined faces of the projections 36 and 37 permitting thelatch-plate to ride over the locking-plate easily, the spring 32 forcingthe latch-plate continuously toward the locking-plate, and after theprojections have moved on each other far enough to get over the highpoints on the projections, the spring snaps the locking-plate to itsposition so that the locking-plate is assured of being either in itslocked or unlocked position as it is forced by the spring in onedirection or the other,

due to the inclined faces of the projections 36' and 37. The spring 32is held in place by having a perforation therein which fits over thestud 35.

The operation of the locking-plate is by a simple tongue on a key whichengages the slot tl, and according to which direction the key is turned,the locking-plate is either slid to its locked or unlocked position. Theprojections 36 and 37 can be disposed at separated points on thelatch-plate and the locking-plate respectively, but I prefer to arrangethem as shown, that is, a double set of projections being arrangedadjacent to each other on each end of the latch-plate, and a double setnear each end of the locking-plate to register with those on thelatchplate.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A lock comprisinga casing, a latch sliding in the casing and having means for engaging ahasp, a latch-plate and a locking-plate, the latch-plate being heldagainst sliding in the casing, the locking-plate being arranged to slidein the casing, the latchplate and the locking-plate having co -actingmeans for holding the locking-plate in its relative positions, co-actingmeans on the latch and on the locking-plate for holding the latch-plateagainst sliding movement or permitting it to slide according to theposition in which the locking-plate is held, a finger-piece projectingfrom the latch through the casing for manipulating it, and a springbearing on the latch to normally hold it in locking position and bearingon the latch-plate to force the latch-plate on the locking-plate.

2. A lock comprising a casing, a vertically sliding latch in the casinghaving means thereon for engaging a hasp, a ferrule forming a key-casingand a finger-piece projecting from the latch through the casing, a poston the latch and projecting into the ferrule to form a guide for a key,a locking-- plate sliding in the casing transversely to the slidingmovement of the latch, means for holding the locking-plate in itsrelative positions, the locking-plate having means thereon for itsengagement by a key to slide it, the latch and the locking-plate havingcoacting means for locking and releasing the latch according to theposition of the locking-plate, and a spring bearing on the latch to holdit in its normal position and bearing on the holding means to force theholding means in engagement with the lockingplate.

3. A lock comprising a casing, a latch vertically sliding in the casinghaving studs on each end and having a bridge in the center, fingers onthe casing to engage the studs of the latch to guide the latch, thebridge being adapted to limit the movement of the latch in an upwarddirection, the bridge having a slot for a key, a post on the latchextending up through the hole in the bridge to act as a guide for a key,a ferrule secured to the bridge and closing the stud, said ferruleprojecting through the casing to form a fingerpiece, the latch havingrecessed portions, a locking-plate sliding in a direction transverse tothe sliding movement of the latch and having tongues adapted to engagethe bottom edge of the latch to lock it in position when thelocking-plate is in one position and to be in line with the recessedportions when the locking-plate is slid to its other position to releasethe latch, means on the latch for engaging a hasp, the lockingplatehaving means for engagement by a key to provide for the sliding of thelocking-plate, a holding means engaging the locking-plate to hold it inits relative posi tions, but permitting the sliding of the locking-plateby the key, and a spring bearing on the holding means to force theholding means in engagement with the locking-plate and bearing on thelatch to hold the latch in its normal position.

4. A lock comprising a casing, a latch sliding vertically in the casingand having means for engaging an element forming the other member of thelook, a key-casing proj ecting from the latch through the casing of thelock and forming a finger-piece, the latch having means thereon forguiding a key inserted through the key-casing, a lockingplate sliding onthe bottom of the casing in a direction transverse to the sliding motionof the latch, a vertical plate on the lockingplate having means forengagement by the key for sliding the locking-plate and having noses toengage the latch to lock the latch, the latch being recessed so that thenoses can be brought in register with the recessed portions to releasethe latch, inverted V- shaped projections on the locking-plate, thelocking-plate having a slot therein, a stud on the casing projectingthrough the slot, a latch-plate having a perforation therein and fittingover the stud and having V- shaped projections to engage the inverted V-shaped projections of the locking-plate, and a spring bearing on thelatch-plate and on the latch to force the latch upward and to force thelatch-plate downward.

5. A look comprising a casing, a latch sliding vertically in the casingand having means for engaging an element forming the other member of thelook, a key-casing projecting from the latch through the casing of thelock and forming a finger-piece, the latch having means thereon forguiding a key inserted through the key-casing, a locking-plate slidingon the bottom of the casing in a direction transverse to theslidingmotion of the latch, a vertical plate on the locking-plate havingmeans for engagement by the key for sliding the locking-plate and havingnoses to engage the latch to lock the latch, the latch being recessed sothat the noses can be brought in register with the recessed portions torelease the latch, inverted V-shaped projections on the locking-plate,the lockingplate having a slot therein, a stud on the casing projectingthrough the slot, a latch-plate having a perforation therein and fittingover the stud and having V-shaped projections to engage the invertedV-shaped projections of the locking-plate, and a flat leaf spring beingperforated in its center to receive the stud of the casing and to bearat its center on the latch-plate to force it downward and having itsends arranged to engage the bottom of the latch at its ends to normallyforce the latch upward.

6. A lock comprising a casing having openings in its front side andhaving an open back, the lock having an escutcheon plate and beingadapted to be placed in a perforation in a bag-frame, the escutcheonalate overlapping the edges of the perforation in the bag-frame to limitthe movement of the loclccasing in the frame, a latch sliding in thecasing, noses on the latch having inclined top faces and adapted vto benormally placed across the openings in the casing to form with theopenings means for en gaging a hasp, a latch-plate and a lockingplate,the latch-plate being held against sliding in the casing, thelockingplate be ing arranged to slide in the casing, the latchplate andthe locking-plate having co-acting means for holding the locking-platein its relative positions, co-acting means on the latch and on thelocking-plate for holding the latch-plate against sliding movement orpermitting it to slide according to the position in which thelocking-plate is held, a finger-piece projecting from the latch throughthe casing for manipulating it, and a spring bearing on the latch tonormally hold it in looking position and bearing on the latch-plate toforce the latch-plate on the locking-plate.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my handthis 13th day of June, 1911.

FREDRICK J. LAU.

Witnesses:

WM. H. GAMFIELD, M. A. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, WashingtomI) G.

